Birthday Presents
by Erebus Kioku
Summary: Togo comes up with the perfect gift for Yuna's birthday. Yuna tries her best to make something just as special for Togo's.
1. Chapter 1

Here's chapter one of the two chapter fic that I wrote for Yuna and Togo's birthdays. Bit late, but still. Hope you enjoy it. I wanted it to feel something like reading the VN so I hope I succeeded in that. Chapter two will be out sometime in the next week, I want to get it all published before the next chapter of Nogi Wakaba is a Hero comes out (just in case Takashima turns out to be someone we know).

* * *

Togo leaned back in her chair and sighed. It was only two weeks until Yuna's birthday and she still hadn't managed to think of a suitable present for her. At first she'd thought to give her another keepsake of the two of them like she had with the picture frame last year, particularly since they were a couple now, but she didn't want to do the same thing every year (besides, grand gestures like that lost their impact if you repeated them too often). So this year she had to come up with something that Yuna didn't already own, that was romantic, but not overly sentimental. Every time she'd thought that she'd come up with something it had either turned out that Yuna already owned something similar or that it was 'unsuitable' (according to Sonoko at least). She was at the end of her rope.

She sighed again and leaned forwards, drumming her fingers on the desk. Surely there was something special she could do for Yuna on her birthday, especially after all that the other girl had done for her…

As her eyes passed over the clothes folded up on her bed, a snippet of a conversation with her grandmother floated up from her childhood memories.

"Everyone appreciates a present with a personal touch Mimo-chan."

What was she talking about when she said that? Togo frowned. It was…that was it. It was her mother's birthday and her grandmother had helped her to knit a pair of mittens for her. She couldn't say that they were the best mittens ever, but her mother had been touched by the effort at least. Yes, that was it. She'd make Yuna something herself so that she'd know how important she was to her!

What to make though? She didn't wear gloves often, a scarf was cliché…maybe a sweater? She had mentioned that one of her sweaters ending up permanently stained the other week now that she thought about it. Yes, a sweater was perfect. Now what design should she choose? A flower perhaps? Yuna did love flowers, but maybe that was too obvious. Perhaps small flowers in a pattern and something else for the main part? Her eyes drifted to the 3 foot wide Japanese flag hanging above her bed, and a bolt of inspiration struck her at the patriotic sight. Yes, Yuna would surely love a reminder of the glory of their country along with a reminder of their love!

Now, what flower should she choose? Japan didn't have an official national flower, but the cherry blossom was as close as there was to being one and Yuna did like cherry blossoms more than any other flower. There was also the chrysanthemum, the flower in the old Imperial Seal of Japan, very patriotic. Maybe she should combine the two…yes, that was a great idea. A hinomaru across the front and the two flowers in a pattern across the rest of the jumper. Perfect. She just had to get the right colours of wool and she could start. Her knitting skills were a little rusty, but as long as she gave it her full attention she should be able to finish it before Yuna's birthday with a little time to spare. Quickly writing down her ideas lest she forget something while she was there, she headed to the shops with determination in her stride.

A week later she stood by the window of her room, holding the finished sweater up in the light and squinting at her work intently. It had come out fairly well, she thought. Maybe the hinomaru was slightly off kilter? …No, she was just imagining things. It looked quite good if she said so herself, especially given how long it had been since she'd last knitted. Her grandmother had always said that she had a talent for knitting. She folded it carefully and placed it in a box, then wrapped it as elegantly as she could (with pink wrapping paper of course), tying it with silver ribbons for good measure. She couldn't wait to see Yuna's face when she opened it. Her girlfriend had the most beautiful smile that Togo had ever seen, so making Yuna happy always made her happy as well. Now all that was left to do was make some botamochi for the birthday party.

She decided to send Yuna a quick text.

" _Are you looking forward to Thursday Yuna-chan? I'm making your favourite snacks. I hope you leave room for them and don't eat too much in the afternoon like you did last year._ "

Yuna replied back in less than a minute.

" _I always have room for Togo-san's snacks! …Except for that one time. You'll never let me live that down right? Meanie. I'm really looking forward to it! Let's make it even more fun than last year!_ "

" _I'm glad you're excited. I've made you a special present this year, I hope you like it. It was surprisingly hard to think of something to get you this time._ "

" _Aww, you shouldn't worry about things like that Togo-san! If it's from you then even if you gave me a lump of coal I'd love it!_ "

" _You really are a charmer Yuna-chan._ "

They continued on in that vein for several minutes, until Togo noticed the time and insisted that they should both concentrate on their homework. Yuna reluctantly agreed and said goodnight…then sent a text proclaiming her boredom half an hour later. After a light scolding she got back to work, after declaring Togo to be an absolutely irredeemable meanie. Togo shook her head and tutted. It was a good thing that she was here to keep Yuna focused or she'd be falling behind with her work all the time. (Of course if Togo wasn't around then Yuna wouldn't be so easily distracted from her work in the first place, but that thought didn't occur to her.)

* * *

Thursday night rolled around at last, and after school the Hero Club members headed to the local park, where Honorary Hero Club Member Fuu was already waiting for them. Yuna had enjoyed their outdoor picnic on her last birthday, so she'd suggested keeping it simple again this year. The group headed over to one of the more sheltered cherry trees (by a stroke of luck it hadn't rained as much as usual this year and temperatures were warm, but the wind was still a bit chilly so they didn't really want to be in the open) and Yuna and Karin set up the blankets while the others unpacked the food and presents. After some jostling over the comfiest spot by Fuu and Karin, which was abruptly settled by Itsuki walking past them and taking the place herself, everyone settled down and got ready to hand over their presents to the birthday girl. Togo's present was first in line. She was reasonably sure that Yuna would like it, but still…now that it was the moment of truth she couldn't help but feel tense.

"Here you go Yuna-chan. I hope you like it," she said nervously.

"Ooh, what pretty wrapping paper! You even tied it up! It looks so cute I kind of don't want to open it!" Yuna said with a smile.

"As expected of Togo. You really don't do half measures huh?" Fuu remarked.

"Washii always goes all out. That's a type of charm too~"

"Waa, I guess I'd better open it, even if it seems kind of a shame…"

Yuna untied the ribbons then delicately pulled off the wrapping paper, taking care to leave it as intact as possible. After she finally reached the actual box, she took off the lid and looked at the present within. An unusual expression flickered across her face as she looked in the box, but it passed by so quickly that only the always perceptive Itsuki and Sonoko noticed it, and even Sonoko couldn't identify it. Yuna's usual cheerful smile quickly took its place, leaving no trace of any other emotion behind.

"Wow, you knitted me a jumper! I've been meaning to buy a new jumper for ages, now I don't have to! Thank you so much Togo-san!" she exclaimed.

"You're welcome Yuna-chan. I'm glad you like it. Why don't you make sure it fits though? I'm pretty sure that I got the measurements right, but…"

"Hm, right now? I don't want to get it dirty…" Yuna trailed off at the sight of Togo's puppy dog eyes. Her girlfriend didn't break them out very often, but when she did there was no way for Yuna to resist. She gave up her futile attempts at resistance and pulled the jumper out of the box.

The other members of the Hero Club stared at the creation emerging from the box in a mixture of wonderment and horror. Even Sonoko had never seen Togo's craft skills first hand, but she had always assumed that they would be impressive given the girl's personality and interests. Clearly she'd made a massive error of assumption.

The abomination held in Yuna's hands looked more like a Vertex than an item of human clothing. It was a sickly off white colour, of the kind which made one think of a hospital, and it was covered in…pink and yellow?…blotches all over. The overall effect was that of a particularly anaemic child with a bad case of chicken pox. And then there was the front. A bright red blob, presumably supposed to be circular but failing miserably, covered the front like a bloodstain. Fuu was sure that the pattern was the same as the infamous bloodstain from 'The Butchering 2'.

Yuna pulled the jumper on, with some difficulty as the neck hole was too small for her head to fit through properly, and adjusted it as well as she could. Now that she was wearing it the others, excluding Togo who looked quite pleased with her work, could see that the left arm was clearly two inches shorter than the right arm and the jumper was disproportionately wide compared to long, making it hang awkwardly off of her frame. On top of all of that the pattern was noticeably sparser in some places than others, giving the thing a moth eaten look just to add insult to injury. Togo's grandmother hadn't been lying to her to spare her feelings, as far as the old woman was concerned Togo really did have a talent for knitting. Unfortunately she'd had severe astigmatism, so her assessment of the quality of her granddaughters creations was somewhat lacking in accuracy.

Fuu was the first to react. She closed her mouth, which had dropped open in shock, and let out a snort of laughter.

"W-W-What the hell is that supposed to be!?" she choked out, keeping her voice low enough that Togo wouldn't hear her. "I-I-I-It looks like a woman threw flower petals on her bed to get ready for sexy times, only the flowers had already been dead for a week and the sheets hadn't been washed for three months, but then she got a real heavy period all of a sudden…! Pff hahahaha!"

"Onee-chan!" Itsuki hissed, shooting her a disgusted look…but silently agreeing with her assessment.

"Fuu, that's disgusting," Karin frowned in distaste. "What's wrong with you?"

"Fuh huh, there's nothing wrong with me, it's that hide…ous…" Fuu trailed off as she looked up. Yuna was hugging Togo, which was nothing unusual, but she was looking over Togo's shoulder at Fuu with a furious glare. Fuu flinched in shock and cowered behind Itsuki.

"S-Scary…"

"What?" Karin asked in confusion.

"Yuna's going to murder me…did you all see the way she was looking at me? I never knew she had that kind of terrifying side to her…" the blonde shuddered. Itsuki and Karin glanced over at the pair, to see Yuna looking perfectly happy and paying no attention to Fuu whatsoever.

"I think you're just imagining things Onee-chan," Itsuki replied.

"No way, she's gunning for me! You saw it right Sonoko!?"

"Mmm? What did you say?" Sonoko replied drowsily. "I'm starting to get tired, I wasn't really looking…"

"I'm telling you, she's really pissed off…I'd better not walk home alone this week…"

"She looks perfectly happy to me…somehow," Itsuki said. How she could pretend to like the thing she was wearing so easily was beyond her…unless she wasn't pretending. It was hard to tell with Yuna sometimes.

"Chill out Fuu," Karin said, taking a swig of soda. "She's probably itchy from the wool or something. Besides, it's Yuna. I don't think you have to be worried about getting kneecapped. Maybe if it was Togo…"

"If you say so…" Fuu said doubtfully. She was sure she'd seen something sinister…but then again, Yuna wasn't the scary type at all. Maybe she really had imagined it…yeah, that must be it. She relaxed with that thought in mind. Somewhat.

Now that her girlfriends present had been received the rest of them started to hand their presents over.

"Here Yuna, I thought you'd like this when I saw it," Fuu said, handing over a medium sized parcel.

"Thanks Fuu-senpai! Ooh, it's kind of heavy, I wonder what it is~?"

' _Guess I was imagining it. Yeah…yeah, I'm sure I was,_ ' Fuu reiterated to herself.

The redhead tore off the wrapping paper and turned over the box.

"A doggy bank! How cute, thank you!"

"Don't sweat it. Save up your change and buy something flashy okay!?"

"Okay!"

Yuna put the doggy bank back in the box and placed it carefully on the blanket.

Karin grunted and handed her overly sellotaped parcel to Yuna in a forced casual manner.

"Here, I figured you could do with them for your therapy and all," she said, avoiding eye contact.

"Thanks Karin-chan! I wonder what it…is…" she said, struggling to pull the wrapping paper away from the vast amounts of sellotape. With some effort she finally got it off and reached the box within. "Hand grips! That's so thoughtful Karin-chan, thank you!"

"Yeah, sure," Karin mumbled.

Fuu opened her mouth to make a snarky comment, then thought better of it.

Itsuki handed over a large bag. "This isn't really the kind of thing that can be wrapped properly, sorry," she said with a sheepish smile.

"Not the kind of thing that can be wrapped? Sounds exciting! …Ooh, a teddy bear! It's so cute and fluffy, thank you!"

Finally, Sonoko gave Yuna her last present. "Here Yu-Yu~, I thought and thought about what to get you and this is what I came up with. Hope you like it~"

"Thank you! Heehee, is this a book? It feels like a book!"

She pulled off the paper and took a look.

"A Complete Guide to the Language of Flowers…? Wow, this is the first edition! Thank you Sonnochi!"

"You're welcome~"

Yuna giggled and carefully placed it on top of the present pile. "Thanks so much for the presents everyone, they're all so cool! I'm so glad I have great friends like you guys!"

"Yu-Yu's getting sentimental ~"

"You're really soft Yuna. I bet you'd have been happy even with just the boxes, huh?" Karin said wryly.

"Ehe, probably."

Now that the gifts were taken care of, the party became no different from their usual get togethers and they spent the next hour making their usual small talk and watching Karin and Fuu rib each other at every opportunity. Yuna also personally finished off almost a third of Togo's botamochi, to everyone's amazement and Togo's delight. "I need to make up for not being able to eat Togo-san's snacks last year," she explained sheepishly. As the sky turned orange and the temperature dropped however, they had to reluctantly pack their things up and prepare to head back.

"Haa, it feels like it's been ages since I've been able to hang out with everyone like this," Fuu lamented. "Soon I might even start forgetting what everyone looks like."

"You hung out with us two days ago. Stop being so melodramatic," Karin said, throwing a blanket at her.

"You wouldn't understand,' Fuu said, catching the blanket and folding it into the bag, "But you will when you graduate to high school. None of you know the loneliness I have endured, day after day…"

"But you had some friends from high school over just yesterday Onee-chan," Itsuki said innocently.

"…Don't ruin my monologues Itsuki."

"We won't end up like you though, there's four of us graduating at once," said Karin. "If anyone's going to be lonely its poor Itsuki, left behind on her own."

"You're right…my poor little baby sister, left to fend for herself…!" Fuu cried, burying her face in her hands.

"I'm sure I'll be fine Onee-chan," Itsuki said, trying to placate her.

"Ahh, my heart aches just thinking about it…"

"Well at any rate, I'm heading back now," Karin said, cutting Fuu off abruptly. "Have fun back at home Yuna. See you tomorrow."

"Ah, wait Karin-chan! I haven't given you a thank you hug yet!"

"A…what, hang on a minute…!"

Yuna lunged at Karin before she had a chance to get away and squeezed her so hard she left the ground, against the shorter girl's squawks of protest. After dropping her she went after Fuu, who had found Karin's distress quite amusing until she found herself in the same position.

"Ugh, not so hard on the ribs Yuna!" she choked out.

"Thanks again Fuu-senpai!"

Itsuki knew better than to try and escape and pre-emptively hugged Yuna before she found herself picked up, to Yuna's happy surprise. Sonoko followed her lead (also being somewhat worried for her ribs) and came in from the side for a three way hug.

"Thanks you two. I'll see you all tomorrow!"

She gave them a wave and headed off with Togo. One of the many advantages of them living next door to each other was that they could almost always walk home together, which made sure that neither of them got lonely on the way.

"Did you have fun today Yuna-chan? You look like you've worn yourself out," Togo asked.

"Hee, you noticed huh? I am pretty tired now. I guess it can't be helped still. At least I'm not cold now that I've got your sweater to wear though."

She pulled at the sweater collar for a moment, then caught herself and lowered her hand (with some effort). The itchiness was driving her mad. The sooner she got home the better.

"I'm glad. Go to bed early tonight though, okay Yuna-chan? I don't want you to wear yourself out and get sick as a result," Togo said, smiling at the other girl's praise of her sweater.

"I will, don't worry. I wouldn't dare to disobey Togo-san's orders." She gave a sharp salute, prompting another smile from the taller girl.

"But Togo-san," she continued, "What do you want for your birthday? I don't really know what to get you this time…I thought about making you some handmade sweets but then I thought it'd be nicer to make something that'll last."

"It doesn't really matter what you get me Yuna-chan. Just spending time with you is enough of a present for me."

Yuna flushed and scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

"Aww, Togo-san…"

They arrived home shortly after that. They would usually spend most of the evening and night together, but Togo practically pushed Yuna into her house on the grounds that she needed to get some rest. Yuna relented, unable to deny her fatigue, but not before getting in one more bone crushing hug. She smiled and waved at Togo's retreating form before shutting the door. As soon as she did she let a sigh of relief and pulled the sweater off right there in the entrance. She was so glad she'd worn a long sleeved shirt today, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to wear the sweater until she got home if her arms had been in contact with it. Just her neck and right wrist was more than bad enough.

' _I'm sure it'll stop itching if I wash it with some fabric softener…but what should I do if it doesn't? I can't just not wear Togo-san's heartfelt gift…_ '

Still, there was no point in worrying about that before she'd even washed it. Stifling another yawn, she pulled some of her other clothes from the wash basket and shoved them into the washing machine along with the sweater, putting in considerably more fabric softener than usual.

With that done she climbed upstairs, leaning heavily on the banister as she did, before entering her room and collapsing onto the bed. She didn't stir until the sound of her alarm the next morning woke her.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the second and final chapter of Birthday Presents (see chapter 1 here). Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Tragically, as Yuna discovered the next night, fabric softener wasn't enough to defeat Togo's creation and it remained unbearably itchy. Not one to lose a battle with an item of clothing however, Yuna soon found a solution. If she wore gloves along with a particularly long sleeved shirt and wore a scarf around her neck then the sweater didn't actually touch her skin at all, so there was no problem. Granted it was kind of hot and Togo had taken to worriedly asking her whether she was suffering from poor circulation or some other malady, but still, the problem was solved and that was all that really mattered.

Now there was only one more problem to solve: what to get Togo for her birthday. She'd gone to a lot of effort in making Yuna's present, so Yuna had to do the same. It had to be something handmade, but she'd never been all that good at making things herself. There wasn't much time left though…she had to decide on something soon.

Three weeks before her girlfriend's birthday Yuna found herself walking down Sanshu high street after school, looking for inspiration. She'd already discounted a scarf on grounds that it was too easy to make compared to a sweater, she'd considered gloves but the very thought of making the fingers and thumbs had chilled her to the bone, knitted socks seemed kind of weird, so what was left? A vest maybe? It didn't seem right somehow though, although she wasn't quite sure why. She frowned in vexation. At this rate…

At that moment a couple walking past hand in hand caught her eye. This was nothing unusual, there were plenty of couples walking by, but these two were different in that they happened to be wearing 'couples shirts'. The girl was sporting a white shirt with half a heart on it and the boy was wearing one with the other half of the heart.

Yuna's eyes sparkled in glee. She'd discounted making a sweater on grounds that it would seem unimaginative, but now she'd seen this she knew exactly what to make. There wasn't much time left and she wasn't the best knitter in the world so she'd need some help, but Togo-san would be so happy with it that there was no way she could make anything else. Fuu owed her for being so mean about poor Togo-san's present and Yuna was pretty sure she was good at knitting, so she'd ask her to help. Knowing that Fuu was already home she hurried over to the Inubouzaki residence, after picking up her knitting supplies from her room and scribbling down a rough draft of the design.

* * *

"Oh it's you Yuna. What's up?" Fuu said as she opened the door.

"Fuu-senpai, I need help. I've thought of the perfect gift for Togo-san, but I don't have enough time left to do it on my own! Will you help me?" she pleaded.

"Huh? Well sure, if I can. What is it that you're doing?"

"This!" Yuna exclaimed, proudly holding up her design.

Fuu kept her face entirely neutral. The look Yuna had sent her when she'd laughed at Togo's present (she couldn't convince herself that she'd imagined it in the end) had convinced her to leave well enough alone when it came to these two and their presents, but this was…

She coughed. "W-Well, I'm pretty good at knitting so sure, I'll help you out. You've got everything you need there?"

"I think so. I can pick anything else we need up easily enough I guess."

"Alright then, let's get started."

They set up shop in the living room, the light in there was the best to see the details by according to Fuu. She'd had plenty of practice sewing and knitting Itsuki's and her own clothes since their parents had died, so she was a lot better at both crafts than most people her age.

Itsuki was already in there sitting on the sofa with her headphones in, the music was loud enough that she hadn't even heard Yuna and her sister talking. Fuu waved a hand in front of her face in exasperation.

"Itsuki, what have I told you about listening to your music that loudly? You'll give yourself tinnitus and go deaf, and I can tell you first hand that being deaf isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Itsuki pulled her headphones off. "Hello Yuna-san, I didn't hear you come in. Are those knitting supplies?"

"Are you even listening to me or did you go deaf already? Turn it down, seriously."

"It's not that loud Onee-chan."

"It's more than loud enough."

"Alright, I'll turn it down…"

Yuna shuffled awkwardly behind them. "Um…"

"Er, sorry about that. Let's get to work."

They settled in and got started. Yuna had decided that the base colour should be white since it was supposed to be a matching set. As for the rest of it…Fuu shrugged mentally. They had the supplies for it so she'd help make it and knowing Togo she'd probably even like it. She'd just do her best not to acknowledge either of their hideous crimes against fashion. With Fuu's expertise they made good progress and after an hour had passed Fuu stopped and checked their work.

"It looks pretty good so far, especially considering how quickly we're going at it. You're selling your own talents short Yuna, you're doing fine."

"You think so? Thanks," Yuna replied, somewhat tiredly.

' _I wasn't imagining it huh?'_

Fuu had thought that the younger girl had seemed tireder than she should, not just today but for the past few weeks as well, but she'd tried to convince herself that she was imagining things. That wasn't really possible anymore though. Knitting wasn't the kind of activity that tended to wear people out after all.

"Hey Yuna…are you doing okay? You seem tireder than you should by now. Is your rehabilitation not going so well?" she asked carefully.

"Eh? No, no, I'm doing fine. It's just taking longer than everyone thought it might, that's all. And I mean, no one really expected me to wake up, so it's not like anyone knows how long it should be taking for me to get better. There's nothing to worry about!" Yuna said, trying to laugh Fuu's worry off.

"It's still obvious that you're forcing yourself though," Fuu frowned. "Don't overdo things okay? If nothing else, if you wear yourself out for Togo's sake she'll never forgive herself you know?"

"I won't wear myself out, it's all fine. There's no way that knitting will make me sick, it's not like I'm dying."

"Uh…"

"Oh don't make that face Fuu-senpai!"

"…Anyway, we should probably call it a day. Go home and rest up, you won't be able to do anything if you're falling asleep. Oh, but first wait here a minute while I get one of my old knitting books. It should help you keep things on track."

As Fuu left the room Itsuki, who had been listening from her position on the sofa, came over and sat down in the chair that her sister had previously occupied.

"Sorry about earlier Yuna-san, Onee-chan's been fussing over everything I do nonstop since my voice came back. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Hehe, you heard that huh? Everyone's worrying too much, I'm getting better, really," Yuna said, waving her hand side to side in an 'everyone stop worrying already' sort of motion.

"Okay, if you say so then I believe you. Don't over exert yourself though."

"I know, I know. Geez, everyone worries so much. It's not like I was the only one that was in bad shape…" She grimaced momentarily as the memory of finding Karin came to her, before forcing it out of her mind.

"Yes, but…no one else was in a coma. It's only natural for people to worry. If you need help with anything ask me okay? I might not seem very reliable yet but I've been trying my very best. I'll come around and help you with your chores if you're too tired," Itsuki said, a determined look on her face.

"Eh? You don't need to do anything like that Itsuki-chan…"

"I want to though. You saved us all and you got hurt because of it so I want to help you get better. Everyone feels the same way, even if they haven't said so," she said earnestly, leaning forward.

"Ah, t-thanks Itsuki-chan…"

Yuna was actually tempted for a moment but…no, she couldn't burden her friends like that. She wasn't that bad anyway. Everyone got tired sometimes.

"I found it!" Fuu announced, waving the book above her head. "You should stay on track if you do what this says. Come by whenever you feel like it though, I'll help as much as you need."

"Thanks Fuu-senpai, I'm sure it'll be a big help. I'll see you both at school tomorrow!"

With a wave she headed back home, with the soon to be sweater folded carefully in her bag.

Three weeks later Yuna and Fuu held up the sweater to the light and squinted at it critically.

"It's done now right, Fuu-senpai?" Yuna asked, twisting it from side to side to get a better view.

"I think so. I can't see anything wrong from here. Hold it still and let me look all around."

She circled it, studying it intently, then straightened up and nodded.

"It's done. Congratulations Yuna, you did a good job. I bet she'll love it."

"I couldn't have done it without you though. Thank you so much." She went in for a hug, but Fuu could still remember the way her ribs felt after the last time Yuna hugged her and deflected her.

"Careful Yuna, you'll crease it."

"Eh, really? I didn't know you could crease sweaters…"

"You learn something new every day. At any rate, you did remember to buy wrapping paper right?"

"…AHHH! I don't believe it! I knew things were going too well…um, it's late but there's bound to be somewhere open still, maybe…" she panicked, pulling out her phone to look for nearby stores.

"There's nowhere around here that sells stuff like that this late," Fuu said gravely.

"Ahhh…this is terrible…I wanted to make it perfect for her…" Yuna lamented.

Fuu's face split into a wide grin. "Lucky for you I figured that something like this would happen! Here!"

The older girl pulled out a bag from the side of the sofa and dropped it on top of the table with a proud flourish. Yuna blinked in surprise.

"I-Is that wrapping paper?"

"I figured you'd forget seeing as you've been concentrating on making her present so much. I got two colours, you choose which one you think she'd like best," she said, turning up her charisma as much as she could.

"Fuu-senpai!"

"Whoa, not the ribs Yuna!" Fuu held her back at arm's length.

"What a relief…thank you. I wouldn't have had time to get any in the morning." Yuna picked up the bag and held to her chest tightly.

"Don't sweat it."

"Are you finished?" Itsuki asked from the door to her room.

"Mm, all done!" Yuna said. "And with only two days to spare as well. We cut it pretty close in the end huh? Oh, but Fuu-senpai…what about your present? I mean, you did a lot of work on this so do you want it to be from the both of us?" she said, tilting her head.

"No, I got her my gift ages ago. You just say it's from you."

"What did you get her?"

"It's a surprise," Fuu grinned.

"Oooh, sounds exciting!"

"I'm not sure that that's a good thing where Onee-chan is concerned…"

"Itsukiiii, where did you get that devilish tongue from? I'll spray you with holy water!" Fuu whined. After saying her goodbyes Yuna headed home with a spring in her step, present folded carefully in its own bag. She giggled happily. She couldn't wait to see the look on Togo's face when she unwrapped it.

* * *

Finally Togo's birthday arrived. For once Yuna set her alarm early enough that she'd be up before Togo came over to wake her.

She jumped out of bed and went through her morning routine in almost record time, which gave Togo a great shock when she came over at the usual time to be greeted with the sight of Yuna pulling her socks on.

"Good morning…goodness Yuna-chan, what's gotten into you? I've never known you to be ready this early before," Togo said, eyebrows raised.

"Good morning Togo-san! Since it's your birthday I decided to get up early so you didn't have to bother with getting me up for once! Happy birthday!"

"Oh Yuna-chan, that was nice of you. Thank you. Although, seeing Yuna-chan's cute sleeping face is one of the highlights of my day…"

"Eh? You mean I did things wrong? That's no good! There's only one thing for it then, I'll just have to pretend to fall asleep so you can 'wake me up'!" Yuna said, determined to make Togo's day perfect in every way.

"What? Yuna-chan…?"

Yuna flopped back onto her bed and did her best impression of being asleep, exaggerated snoring and all. Togo held her hand over her mouth and giggled softly.

"Oh my. Ahem, wake up Yuna-chan. It's late, you've overslept terribly. Honestly, what am I going to do with you?" She gave her shoulder a light shake for good measure.

"Hmm? Uwaa, Togo-san! I overslept again! I'm so careless, thank goodness you're here to wake me up!"

"You're welcome Yuna-chan."

"Come downstairs and let me make you breakfast for once. I'll make your favourite, so just take it easy okay?"

Yuna hurried downstairs and started to prepare rice and miso soup with pickled vegetables on the side. Personally she preferred something less sophisticated first thing in the morning, but oh well. Togo wouldn't be Togo without her quirks. After finishing up breakfast, they left and started their commute to school. Since they'd both recovered they'd tried travelling by bicycle, but Yuna still wasn't up for the ride up the hill so they'd decided to walk instead. They both ended up happy with the arrangement though, partly because they could walk close to each other and talk without being distracted or out of breath and partly because it meant that they could hold hands on the way.

* * *

After a long day at school it was finally time for their get together. The usual udon shop was where they'd decided to hold it, largely because the national war museum would be shut by the time they got there to Togo's great sadness. To compensate she'd spent an extra fifteen minutes on her 'morning history' this morning. Really, just thinking about the wonderful and prosperous history of her glorious homeland was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Given what regular customers they were and the fact that they'd helped so much with the opening of the second shop they'd managed to reserve one of the larger tables this time, so that there'd be more room to open the presents after eating. Yuna hummed to herself cheerfully. Almost time to hand it over.

"So," Fuu said, pushing her third bowl of udon to the side, "You're a year older now huh Togo? Are your bones starting to ache? Are you having urges to chase youngsters off your lawn?"

"You're really reaching this time huh? You're older than her you know," Karin retorted.

"I can't say I feel any different Fuu-senpai. Perhaps you're just projecting?" Togo smiled pleasantly.

"Geh…struck down on both sides…"

"Washii~ its present time. Here, take this~" Sonoko handed her gift over.

"Thank you Sonnochi. I wonder what it could be? …Hm? I-Is this what I think it is?" She stammered, eyes widening as she looked inside the box.

"It is~"

"Wha…how on earth did you get hold of this?" She looked as stunned as if someone had told her that Japan was running out of udon.

"Oh, my family have a few of these kinds of things lying around. I thought that this one at least would be better off with someone who appreciates it~" Sonoko replied, eyelids already drooping slightly.

"I don't believe it…thank you so much!"

"What is it?" Karin asked, "Looks pretty old…"

"This is pottery from Kyoto, from the Showa period from the looks of it. It's almost unbelievable…to be holding such a wonderful piece of history in my own hands…"

"What, are they rare or something?"

"Rare doesn't cover it. Since Kyoto hasn't existed for 300 years and most of these were kept there the value of this is immeasurable… I'm not sure I can accept this…"

"Oh don't be silly Wasshi~ There's no point in it lying in one of my families cupboards being used to hold potpourri~"

"P-Potpourri…!?" Togo looked like she was about to have an apoplexy. "Well if that's the case I'll be sure to give it the care it deserves. Thank you Sonnochi," Togo said, carefully placing it back in the box (with slightly trembling hands) and moving it further towards the middle of the table.

"You're welcome~"

Karin scratched her head in bemusement. "Huh…it kind of seems like everyone else has been blown out of the water already but…here, I got you this." She handed over a clumsily wrapped parcel.

"Oh Karin-chan, it's not a competition, it's the feeling behind it that counts. Thank you."

Togo struggled to unwrap Karin's gift, having difficulty due to the amount of sellotape that the girl had used.

"This is…a pistol?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I figured that it'd complement the rifle," Karin said.

"Thank you Karin-chan, I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it," Togo said, smiling at her.

"Don't mention it," Karin said.

"You have pretty unique tastes huh Togo?" Fuu said in wonder. "Here, this is from me."

"Thank you Fuu-senpai. …Oh my, this is a Musashi battleship model! I've been meaning to get one of these, thank you."

"I was kind of surprised you didn't have one already all things considered. I think there's museums with less in their collections than you."

"You might be right," Togo replied with a soft giggle.

Itsuki handed her present over shyly. "Um, there aren't actually many CD's with military music as the subject, so I ended up choosing the songs I thought you'd like the most from online. I hope you like them…"

"That's very thoughtful of you Itsuki-chan, thank you. I'm sure I'll enjoy them all."

Yuna felt rather nervous at this point. Everyone's presents were so great, would Togo really be impressed by her sweater when she compared it to her other presents? Granted, as much as Yuna hated to admit it the sweater that Togo had given her wasn't strictly up to professional standards, but still.

"Yuna-chan?"

"Huh?"

"You spaced out for a moment there, is everything okay?" Togo asked worriedly.

"O-Oh yeah, I was just thinking about stuff," Yuna said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Don't strain yourself Yuna," Fuu threw in.

"Isn't that more something that we should say to you?" Karin dead panned.

"Um, here you go Togo-san. I thought that since you made me something I should…um, well I made this, so I hope you like it…"

"I'm sure I'll love whatever my wonderful girlfriend has made for me. Thank you Yuna-chan."

Yuna watched with trepidation as Togo pulled off the paper and unfolded the sweater. This was the moment of truth…

Togo stared at the item in her hands in silence. Yuna's nervousness grew with each moment that passed. Why wasn't she saying anything? Could she actually really hate it and was trying to think of something polite to say to cover it up? This was unbearable.

"Ah, Togo-san, if you don't-"

Yuna's voice cut off at the sight of tears welling up in Togo's eyes. Her lower lip was starting to tremble as well.

' _Oh no, what have I done!?'_

"T-Togo-san-"

"Oh Yuna-chan, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" Togo gushed, throwing her arms around the red head.

"Huh?"

"I can't believe you made this just for me! Thank you Yuna-chan, thank you!"

"Y-You like it? I'm so glad! Now we can be sweater buddies!"

"You're right…we'll make a matching pair. How romantic!"

Sonoko and Karin were craning their heads to get a look at the front of the present. Surely it couldn't be as bad as Togo's creation…?

Their curiosity was satisfied when Togo decided to show her girlfriend's present off.

"Just look at what Yuna made for me! Isn't she the most wonderful girlfriend anyone could wish for!?" she said, pride filling her voice.

"…Wow Washii, you two sure do make a great pair," Sonoko said in awe.

"Wha-…w-wow, that sure is… unique," Karin mumbled out.

Knowing how deep her girlfriend's nationalistic fervour ran, Yuna had known that the surest way to make her something she'd like was to appeal to the history buff within her and to that end she'd decided to recreate one of Togo's favourite historical battles, the Battle of Nagashino, in knitted form (failed cavalry charge and all). Granted it was hard to show any detail in knitting, but still, the gist of it was gotten across.

"I know how much you love history, so I wanted to recreate a great battle for you! Fuu-senpai helped me, but I designed it all by myself!"

That was easy enough to tell. The horses looked more like elephants, despite Fuu's best efforts, and it was hardly possible to tell that there were guns in the picture but…it was still infinitely better than the eldritch horror that Togo had unleashed onto the world, on that they all silently agreed.

After the…excitement over the sweater had calmed down the girls headed home, after congratulating the birthday girl once more (and paying for her udon). Togo and Yuna waved at the others as they went their separate ways, then joined hands and lapsed into a comfortable silence for a short time. After a few minutes however Yuna stopped dead in her tracks and let out an exclamation. "I don't believe it, I totally forgot to do it even though I said that we'd be sweater buddies when I gave it to you! I didn't even remember when we were taking pictures together!"

"Yuna-chan?"

Yuna took off her rucksack and dropped to the ground, apparently looking for something.

"Aha, found it!" she exclaimed. She pulled out her own sweater and pulled it over her head, quite quickly now that she'd had a few weeks of practice getting it on and off. She was pretty sure that it had stretched as well, which was handy. "Now we're a pair! Pretty cool huh?"

"Yuna-chan…" Togo wasn't normally one for public displays of affection, but this time she made an exception and leaned forward to give the shorter girl a kiss on the cheek. Yuna in turn giggled and flung her arms around her girlfriend, then pulled back to look into her eyes with a gentle gaze.

"I love you Togo-san."

For a moment Togo was struck silent by the adoring tone in Yuna's voice. Gathering herself after a slight pause she replied, "I love you too Yuna-chan."

Yuna giggled again and gave her a little kiss on the lips, then re-joined their hands and pulled her now flustered girlfriend along after her.

Togo's mind raced to find a suitable response to all of that, then struck gold as she remembered what had set it all off. "You know Yuna-chan, your present was wonderful, but I think that you're the greatest birthday present of all," she said with as much confidence as she could muster. Her effort paid off as Yuna stumbled in surprise and turned to stare at her with wide eyes.

"W-Wow, I didn't know you could be so…smooth," she stammered.

"I try my best."

"Hmm…I guess I'll have to work hard to be even more charming than you then!" Yuna said with a determined tone in her voice.

"Oh? You want to turn it into a competition?" Togo replied, smiling in amusement.

"Isn't trying to make each other feel good the nicest competition there is?" Yuna said.

"You might be right. Let's do our best," Togo agreed, rather looking forward to seeing what Yuna would do.

* * *

Later that night, after Togo had returned to her own home, Yuna was lying on her bed looking through the electronic picture frame Togo had given her on her birthday last year. She had a wide grin plastered on her face, and every now and then a giggle escaped her lips. The others had dubbed her and Togo a 'pair of hopeless romantics' over this kind of behaviour but it didn't matter, as long as Togo was happy she'd behave a soppily as she wanted to.

Sitting up, she looked over at the Togo residence. Togo's light was already off, she'd texted her just a few minutes ago and told her she was going to bed early. She was usually one of the last out of their group of friends to go asleep, so she must have been worn out by the day's excitement. Yuna smiled to herself. It was nice that her girlfriend had had so much fun.

She took a final look at the picture frame, which was displaying one of her fondest memories, the first trip they'd taken together by themselves after she'd woken from her coma. They'd gone to the aquarium, which as well as being lots of fun was easy to get around in her wheelchair. Togo had treated her like a princess the entire day, fussing over her well being constantly, and had brought her lots of little presents as well as a big stuffed dolphin. Yuna had told her not to buy so much stuff for her, feeling a little embarrassed, but the other girl had insisted saying it was the least she deserved, which had made Yuna even more embarrassed. The experience had pushed the last vestiges of doubt about Togo's feelings from her mind and she'd confessed to her a few weeks later. Another grin lit up on her face at the memory and she headed over to her closet to pull the imaginatively named Mr. Dolphin out, it'd been too long since she'd slept with him now that she thought about it. Climbing into bed, she curled up and cuddled him close to her chest.

"I'm really glad she liked her present Mr. Dolphin," she said happily, squeezing him even tighter. She'd really worried about making Togo's first birthday as her girlfriend perfect, but she'd been stressed for nothing she guessed. All in all the day was a huge success. She hoped they'd have a lot more birthdays together in the future. With that thought, she rolled over and fell asleep, looking forward to her morning wake up call.


End file.
